European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 6, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday september 6, 1991 the stars and stripes b Page 17 _ Money matters today a tip foreign investment in Hungary is on the increase and exceeding government predictions Mil the hungarian news Agency reports. The Agency said preliminary figures released by the hungarian National Bank have indicated that foreign investment totalled $200 million in july an amount the hungarian government described As a a significant  during the first six months of 1991, $440 million was invested in Hungary. Mil said the initial prediction of $1 billion in investments by the end of the year could now increase to Between $1.3 billion and $1.5  rates London up thursday s rates for the . Dollar to other currencies. Figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other local currencies in dollars Gold was quoted at $347.50 an ounce Silver at $3.88. Sept. 4 sept. 5 British pound.1.6945 1.6925 German mark.1.7390 1.7390 French franc.5.9050 5.9060 dutch guilder.1.9555 1.9585 belgian franc.35.7275 a italian lira.1,296.70 1,296.25 Swiss franc.1.5255 1.5270 greek drachma.191.62 192.31 turkish lira.4,613.00 4,626.30 saudi arabian riyal.3.7503 3.7501 Spanish peseta.108.20 108.41 portuguese escudo.148.50 148.80 Canadian Dollar.1.1410 1.1408 austrian schilling.12.2075 12.2430 norwegian krone.6.7780 6.7975 danish Krone .6.7000 6.7175 these arts unofficial rates As reported by wire service and banking sources and they Are listed to give some idea of daily currency fluctuations. The Only official rate concerns the Sale of German Marks to . Personnel for personal use and this will be 1.70 through Friday based on thursdays noontime  Jones new York up a now Jones closing Range of averages wednesday High Low clot change 30 industrials 3034.66 2990.83 3008.50 off 9.17 20 transport 1202.75 1181.06 1190.06 off 6.70 15 utilities 208.06 205.87 207.25 up 0.13 65 stocks 1077.65 1081.57 1068.48 off 3.49richmond paper quits publishing Richmond a. Up Media general inc. Announced wednesday it will cease publication of the Richmond news Leader merging the afternoon newspapers resources into an expanded version of the morning Richmond times dispatch. J. Stewart Bryan Iii chairman and chief executive officer of Media general and publisher of both newspapers said the final edition of the afternoon newspaper will be published May 30. The expanded morning newspaper will continue to carry the Richmond times dispatch Banner. A combination of factors including declining afternoon circulation the demise of competitive wire service stories for morning and afternoon newspapers and the recession contributed to the decision he said. Bryan said the merger will result in the elimination of 190 jobs in editorial production and circulation departments. A record 1 million expected to file bankruptcy this year Washington a a record i million american Consumers and businesses Likely will file for bankruptcy this year with the heaviest filings coming in economically Shell shocked new England the american bankruptcy Institute said wednesday. A the number of bankruptcies is increasing in an unbroken line and at a record Pace a said Samuel j. Gerdano executive director of the Institute a nonprofit group. There were 880,399 bankruptcies in the 12 months that ended june 30, up 21 percent from a year earlier. Ninety two percent of the filings were from individuals the rest from businesses. Gerdano said the Pace of filings for the rest of this year should be enough to bring bankruptcies to 1 million for Calendar 1991. But noting that bankruptcies have increased in every year since 1985, he said a like a pie crust its a record made to be  the biggest increases in the most recent 12-month period came in new England the Region hit hardest by the recession that began last summer. Filings Rose 86 percent in new Hampshire 77 percent in Massachusetts and 59 percent in Connecticut. Gerdano said the recession clearly contributed to the increase but noted that filings have risen even in years when the Economy was expanding. They Rose 13 percent nationally in the 12 months ending june 30, 1990, and 8 percent in the 12 months before that. A the ultimate cause is the level of personal debt a he said noting that Consumers total debt including Home mortgages represented 62 percent of their annual disposable personal income in 1983, compared to 83 percent in 1990. A the Only Way the recession can push you Over the Edge is if you Are already sitting on it a he said. A the bankruptcy Boom is Here to stay unless americans reduce debt Load or the credit Industry Al american bankruptcies Here Are the number of bankruptcy filings by year since 1981, As reported by the private american bankruptcy Institute. Figures Are for the 12 months ending on june 30 of each year. The institutes source for the information is the administrative office of the United states courts. Ters its practices or  Charles m. Tatelbaum a tampa.fla., bankruptcy attorney said the �?T90s could see a Sharp increase in Large bankruptcies As the leveraged buyouts of the �?T80s unravel. In a leveraged buyout the acquiring investors borrow heavily to Purchase a profitable company. After the buyout the company has to earn a reasonable profit and enough to service the acquiring investors loan payments. By their nature leveraged buyouts require the new owners to increase profits or generate Cash by Selling the company in pieces. That can be an impossible task in a recession when profits turn Down and the sales Price of businesses Falls. Tatelbaum said an influx of Large com a amps plex bankruptcy cases resulting from leveraged buyouts could swamp already overburdened courts forcing individuals and Small businesses into Long Waits for final bankruptcy determinations. T he Institute wants Congress to create a commission to study the problem a similar panel led to the last Broad reworking of the . Bankruptcy code in 1978. One of the Reform proposals is streamlined bankruptcy procedures for Small businesses so troubled companies can be reorganized quickly. In some jurisdictions a business can wait a year or More for a one Day bankruptcy hearing. That wait can be fatal As suppliers customers and employees leave during the period of uncertainty. Soaring debt Levels of americans probably bogging Down recovery new York apr if there was one number that could explain Why the Economy is slow to recover from recession it might be this outstanding debt a government business household a amounts to More than $42,000 for every Man woman and child in the country. That a More than most Heads of households earn in a year and the annual interest on it is More than Many if not most families spend on clothing fixing up the House vacationing or buying a few luxuries from the local retailer. When you have debts of that sort a very Large part of your payments Are simply for interest incurred. Last year 10 cents of every consumer Dollar spent went to pay interest up from 7 cents in 1980. In effect numbers of that sort suggest strongly that americans Are too Busy trying to keep up with interest payments and reducing total debt to have much left Over for saving or for spending. Those numbers also suggest that the financial Energy you might have thought would go into 1991 retail sales for example was probably expended several years ago on Over buying and overspending a on cars and houses for instance. In Short some of the Good times Over the past decade May have been at the expense of this decade. The earlier decade got the cars and houses the current decade gets the Bills. These figures come from a just issued special report a a nation in debt a issued by the tax foundation which claims non partisan and non profit status for its endeavours in monitoring tax and fiscal activities of government. This is the breakdown a debt in 1990 totalled $10.6 trillion almost twice the nations $5.4 trillion Gross National product. A Federal government debt tripled to about $2.5 trillion in 1990, from $743 billion in 1980. This increased the Federal slice of total debt to 24 percent from 19 percent of the total. Interest payments on the Federal debt in 1990 were $186.3 billion or 15 cents of every Dollar spent compared with 9 cents of every Dollar for interest in 1980. A state and local government debt totalled $642.2 billion in 1990, up from $286.6 billion in 1980. Its percentage of total debt remained at 11 percent but is Likely to grow in the 1990s. A non financial business debt jumped to around $3.5 trillion in 1990, from $1.4 trillion in 1980, a consequence in part of leveraged buyouts and junk Bond financing. Household debt consisting mainly of Ives and consumer credit about $3.7 trillion in 1990, from $1.43 mortgages and consumer credit Rose to trillion in 1980. Some people might be shocked to realize that the largest category of All is household debt More than the debts of local state and Federal governments combined. Mortgages accounted for most but credit cards came on Strong. In All credit card spending Rose 93 percent in less than a decade a to $397.1 billion in 1988, from $205.4 billion in 1980. The report noted that credit card debt Rose even faster by 122 percent to $180 billion from $81.2 billion. These figures Helof explain Why the consumer sector is having problems in fulfilling the recovery leadership role assigned to it by economists. Many Consumers simply have too Little in savings and owe too much t hey explain also How the Federal governments fiscal role in recovery has been compromised. In earlier recessions Federal spending and tax cuts were the Basic weapons in rejuvenating economic activity. Now taxes Are rising instead